Partners

Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland

The Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland (ASAP), of which FCCO is a founding member, wants to dramatically reduce the euthanasia of cats across the Portland Oregon metro area during the next five years. This is a collective effort - we need your help, too.

Are you a feral cat caregiver? Do you have a cat that needs to be spayed/neutered?There is help! Click here to read our caregiver information and about our spay/neuter clinics.

Please help us help the cats. Follow this link and print out our flyers and keep some in your car. When you are at the store, coffee shop, vet's office, church, or any place with a community bulletin board, please post one. Remember, each caregiver you reach is another cat helped, and suffering for future litters prevented!

Cats Safe at Home™

At the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, we believe the best option is to work collaboratively to find solutions that help cats and birds. We have worked with the Audubon Society of Portland for over a decade. We share a common goal of fewer cats living outdoors. We are working together on initiatives including Cats Safe at Home™ where we encourage people to not let their pet cats roam free. Fewer free-roaming cats mean fewer feral cats born on our streets and fewer cats means less predation on wildlife. Through this approach we can bring our community together toward a safer and healthier environment for both cats and wildlife.

Every cat deserves a safe home where s/he is loved, cared for and kept safe from hazards. Yet, that isn't the case as more cats are born than there are available homes, and even more roam our urban landscape -born on the streets, abandoned, lost, or free-roaming pet cats.

Across the country, wildlife advocates and cat advocates have been notoriously at odds over how to address the issue of free-roaming cats. In the Portland Metro Region, we are doing it differently. Cat and bird advocates are working together. FCCO has partnered with the Audubon Society of Portland, Multnomah County Animal Services and Washington County Animal Services. We are working together to make our communities more safe for cats and wildlife. Our message is: Cats Safe at Home™.

FCCO will continue to spay/neuter as many feral and stray cats as possible, but we also want to work on the prevention of future stray of feral cats. One way to do this is to engage the community to help reduce the number of free-roaming pet cats.

Do your part: spay/neuter your cat(s) before they have even one litter, and please don't let your pet cats roam free. If you want your cat to have some time outside, make it safe for him and wildlife by building an outdoor enclosure, installing cat fencing or taking your cat outside on a leash and enjoy some outdoor time together.

We have the opportunity to be a model to the rest of the country by showing we can work together and that we can and will take action to help cats and birds live safely in our community. We can make a huge difference together - a difference none of us can make individually. The cats and birds are counting on us.

Cats Safe At Home™ - Catio Tour

FCCO and the Audubon Society of Portland have formed a truly unique partnership to motivate a change in our community. Both organizations agree that by having fewer pet cats roaming freely it is better for the cats and for wildlife. We created the Catio Tour to offer inspiration for those looking for ways for their cats to have safe outdoor time. Read more, including design ideas, here.

Cats Safe At Home™ - Hayden Island Project

In partnership with Hayden Island residents, the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon and Audubon Society of Portland have begun a multi-year project to humanely reduce the island’s feral cat population in order to protect wildlife and provide a better life for cats.

Cats are the #1 pet in America yet many end up on the street and are subject to an array of hazards including cars, poisons, traps, disease, abuse by humans, attacks by other cats and dogs, wildlife predators, or becoming lost.

Birds enhance our lives and are an indicator of environmental health. Americans spend billions of dollars every year on bird related activities like bird watching, bird seed, and ecotourism. The Portland metropolitan region is home to more than 200 species of birds, many of which are under huge pressure due to habitat loss. Free-roaming cats, which prey on wildlife, add to this pressure.

The ultimate goal of this project is to increase livability on the island for wildlife, cats, and people!

Project OverviewHayden Island provides a “natural laboratory” to study solutions to cat overpopulation because it has strict geographic boundaries — the banks of the Columbia River — and is home to hundreds of feral cats. For this project, we are using innovative methods to humanely reduce the island’s feral cat population.

Count cats Volunteers are conducting physical counts of free-roaming cats to determine how many live on Hayden Island as well as conduct public surveys to estimate the number of pet cats and attitudes about outdoor cats. Click here for more information on the cat count surveys.

Increase TNR and other measures After the initial baseline population estimate (completed in Fall 2014), Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) efforts will be increased in cooperation with island residents. We will continue survey counts to track changes in cat population size.

Support cat care We will work with the Hayden Island community to assist in the management and care of free-roaming cats. Efforts will include partnering with feral cat caregivers and residents to monitor cats, offering spay/neuter specials for local cats, finding homes for socialized feral cats, and increasing general awareness of this issue.

Things Are Different HereThe Hayden Island Cat Project is a unique undertaking: across the country, wildlife advocates and cat advocates have been at odds over how to address free-roaming cats, but these groups are working together in Portland to find solutions that are good for cats and wildlife. Join us!

If you want to volunteer for this project or would like more information, contact either:Joe Liebezeit, Audubon Society of Portland, at 971-222-6111 or by emailKaren Kraus, Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, at 503-797-2606 or by email

Focus AreaThe area of the island we are focusing our efforts on is outlined on the map to the left. We have split the island into “land-use areas” that assists in organizing our survey efforts.

Cats Safe at Home™ CampaignThe Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, Audubon Society of Portland, and local animal welfare organizations are working together to humanely address cat overpopulation in the metro region and lessen cat impacts on wildlife through the Cats Safe at Home™ program. This program integrates a range of strategies that are good for both cats and wildlife, including spaying/neutering cats, creating the Hayden Island Cat Project, and encouraging owners to keep cats safe at home.

Newsletter Signup

FCCO has a quarterly newsletter (Street Tails) and a monthly e-update (WebTails). We can send both to your email address and you'll get ideas for helping cats, learn about FCCO events, be notified of spay/neuter specials, and see lots of cute cats and read their stories! Read our current newsletter.

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Thank you for your interest in the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon! Our quarterly newsletter comes out in January, April, July and October. Our monthly e-update is sent around the second Tuesday of the month.

If you ever have questions or comments please feel free to contact us!